Page 138 of Fire and Icing

“No one. I’ll call them back later.”

“You’ll call no one back later?”

“Yeah, exactly.”

“Syd, you can talk to me.”

“It’s just family stuff.”

Well, that would explain some of her odd behavior lately. Not all of it, but maybe.

“Anything I can do?” I ask.

“Not unless you can go back in time and rewrite history.”

“You’re not talking about me and Dustin anymore, are you?”

Syd avoids my gaze. I’m about to dig deeper when the bell over the front shop door tinkles and Syd nearly sprints through the kitchen door into the shop.

I stand in front of the oven watching the timer count down. While I’m waiting for the cookies to bake, my phone rings. It’s an unknown number.

I answer. “Hello?”

“Hi, Emberleigh?”

“Yes?”

“This is Matt, from Home Restoration Pros.”

“Oh. Hey, Matt.”

The timer goes off and I pull the cookies out and set them on the counter to cool.

“I wanted to let you know your home is ready for you to move back in. Sorry for the delay on completion. The countertop was out of stock so that put us back a few weeks. Then we had to wait for the inspector to give an all clear. But you’re good to go.”

“Thank you.”

“No problem. Call us if you need anything else.”

I hang up with Matt and pop my head out into the bakery.

A family I used to babysit for in my teens is here. Syd’s chatting with the mom. Then she turns to the girl who looks even more grown-up than when I last saw her almost a year ago.

“Anabelle, how was your freshman year?”

“Awesome. It’s good to be home for the summer, though.”

Anabelle’s already through her first year in college. I was eighteen when I babysat for her eight years ago as a cute ten year old. Her brother’s on the high school football team now. He was only seven then. I can still picture playing Sorry and hide and seek with them on nights when their parents went out. Time flew.

“Hey, Syd,” I say.

“Emberleigh!” Mrs. Spence says with a big smile on her face.

“Hey. How are you?”

“How are you? We watched every minute of that contest. What a gift you have! And that boyfriend of yours.”

“You have a boyfriend?” Anabelle asks.

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